Santa Clara Defeats Sacramento State 2-0

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -
The Santa Clara University men's soccer team wrapped up its non-conference season with a 2-0 victory over Sacramento State Sunday evening at Buck Shaw Stadium. With the win the 13th-ranked Broncos improve to 8-2-3 overall while dropping the Hornets to 2-8-1 on the season.

SCU dominated much of the play on the evening, taking 10 more shots than Sacramento State and getting five more corner kicks in the match. Of the Broncos' 13 shots, 11 were on the face of the goal, compared to only two for the Hornets.

Will Weatherly scored what proved to be the game-winner in the 32nd minute as he took a crossing pass from Tannen Wels and slipped it past Matt McDougall for the 1-0 lead. The goal for Weatherly was his fourth on the season, tying him with Kelechi Igwe for the team lead.

In the second half, the Broncos continued to put pressure on the Hornets' defense, finally breaking through for an insurance goal in the 65th minute as a Jeff Scott corner kick was headed backwards by Eric Irvine to the waiting forehead of Jason Pan who netted his first collegiate goal. The goal marked the second straight match that the Broncos scored a headed goal off a set piece.

Santa Clara goalkeeper Steve Cronin was steady in goal, making two saves on the night and picking up his fifth shutout of the season. The team defense for SCU was stellar on the evening, registering its eighth shutout of the season behind M.A.C. Harmann Trophy finalist Ryan Cochrane, and lowering the team's goals-against average to 0.51.

McDougall made nine saves on the evening for the Hornets as Sam Sneed, Patrick Nelle and Ryan Rhodes each took a shot in the loss.

The Broncos will return to action next weekend as they open up West Coast Conference play on Saturday evening at San Francisco. The October 11 match is slated to begin at 7 p.m. at Negoesco Stadium.